A Demon Made Me Do It(14)

What-ev-er.

Corrine stands by my locker looking like she’s ready to burst from her skin. She and I’ve hung out for a few years. She doesn’t ask me too many personal questions and isn’t nosy about my private life. That’s why I like her—her preoccupation with her own drama prevents her from focusing too much on mine. Her father is currently serving a life sentence for killing a man during a drunken bar fight, so she lives with her mom. But her mom is no prize, either. Perpetually unemployed and permanently drunk, she barely manages to keep up the rent on the trailer they share on the outskirts of town, a place inhabited by the trashiest of the trash—poor even by Dove Creek standards. But she’s the closest thing I have to a friend here, and I’m grateful for her companionship.

“Lee-OR-aa!” she hisses, her eyes wide. “I can’t believe you totally missed it. Of all the days to get sent home from school you pick yesterday and miss the most amazing thing ever! Well not totally miss it, but oh my God, why don’t you ever answer your phone at night? I tried calling you like fifty times!” She stops to catch her breath, her chubby face flushing pink.

I furrow my brow. Corrine tends to be dramatic sometimes, but this is a bit over the top. “Slow down…I didn’t get sent home, I left. What happened? Is everything okay?”

She raises both her eyebrows and smiles wide, revealing two deep dimples and badly crooked teeth. I begin turning the combination to my lock but she places both hands on my shoulders and pivots my body around.

“That,” she whispers breathlessly. “Isn’t it just lovely? Ahhh…”

I look to where a gaggle of girls has clustered in the hallway. Correction, a gaggle of girls plus Kieron standing in the middle, clearly loving the attention being plied on him by half the cheerleading squad. Just as I expected.

I look back at Corrine and roll my eyes. “Really? That’s what’s got you so worked up…some guy?” I just hope my face isn’t as pink as hers. Just seeing Kieron again, in the flesh, affirming that he is real and not a figment of my overactive and unreliable imagination makes my blood pump furiously. I focus on lining up the numbers on my combination lock, which is exceedingly difficult with shaky hands.

She leans beside me and cranes her neck to watch him. “Seriously, Liora, are you blind? Have you not seen our selection of guys here, or should I say, lack of?”

“So he’s cute. Big whoop. For all you know he could be a world-class jerk.” I fumble through my locker and try to remember what books I’ll need for first period English. Although after what happened yesterday, I’m not sure it will even matter. Mr. Sodenberg will probably kick me out the second he sees me.

Despite my best efforts, I can’t help but peek in Kieron’s direction again. His dazzling smile lights up the hallway and two more girls have joined his swarm of admirers. “He seems like a total player,” I say and slam my locker shut.

Damn. I have to walk right past him. I move to Corrine’s other side so she can be a buffer as we head toward Kieron and his expanding harem.

“He’s the hottest thing that’s ever stepped foot in this town, if you ask me. And he’s not a jerk. He’s super polite…I accidentally bumped into him leaving chemistry yesterday, and he actually said ‘excuse me’ and asked if I was okay!” Corrine can barely contain her glee.

“Sounds like a real gentleman.” I glance over my shoulder and glower as a pretty blonde named Drusilla Van Vareen places her manicured hand on Kieron’s arm. He says something to her and she laughs as if it’s the funniest thing she’s ever heard. I try not to gag.

As we get closer Corrine suddenly stops walking. She looks at me, over to Kieron, then back to me. “Hmm,” she says with a small smile, “I hadn’t noticed how similar you two look. Like you could almost be related or something.”

I stare at her, dumfounded. Him: could be a male super model. Me: not so much. “Um, clearly you need your glasses checked.”

She tosses her head and lowers her voice. “It’s just a few things, like how you both have the same black hair and blue eyes. That’s an unusual combination. And you both have such distinguished features that are very symmetrical. Course he’s a lot tanner and taller than you, but other than that—”

“Casper the friendly ghost is tanner than me,” I mumble. It’s true I’d noticed that his rich, ebony hair was the same color as mine, but his eyes were definitely a few shades darker.

Corrine shrugs and resumes walking, her head close to mine. “Anyways, there’s all sorts of stories going around about him,” she continues, “Dawn Lewis told me she heard he was an actor from LA out here doing research for a movie role. Taylor McKenzie said he was here as part of the FBI witness relocation program because his parents are wealthy European royalty who are being blackmailed. And Carrie Stevens said…”